Work Integrated Learning

Students on our BA (Hons) Early Years and Childhood Studies complete Work Integrated Learning during their second year and the WIL period occurs from October to May, for 30 days.

Placement providers will allocate a mentor who will guide our WIL students through the assessment criteria to become Level 3 Early Years Educators.

Our placement providers play a key role in supporting the learning process of our students, as well as assessing the student against the required standards of the Early Years Educator assessment.

Placement providers will need to provide evidence that the WIL student has achieved the requirements via assessment reports, which are completed alongside a University member of staff.

Students must only work with children aged 0-5 years.

My placement is now hiring me as a full time employee. I’ve loved my time there and I have learnt so much, it’s been really nice to feel like I’ve been helpful to them as well.

Isabelle, (BA Hons) Early Years and Childhood Studies 

Our BA (Hons) Early Years Childhood Studies and BA (Hons) Education students undertake Work Integrated Learning in their first and second year of study.

Manchester Met. Project is a five-day placement for students in their first year of study and takes place February – March.

Manchester Met. Connected is an eight-day placement for students in their second year of study with takes place February – April.

Students will attend the WIL placement for one day per week, offering them an introductory experience of working with children in different settings, this could be a school, nursery, children’s club etc. Students will have had varying prior experience, some may already have a Level 3 childcare qualification and have substantial placement experience, whilst for others, this may be their first time in a childcare setting.

It is expected that the students participate and become part of the staff team as much as is possible and should discuss with their manager what they hope to gain from the WIL.

Students will have set their own action plans based around professional skills and will be expected to write a reflective evaluation of this upon completion.

I enjoyed placement as it allowed me to work alongside children and staff while also learning and observing, During placement I was able to do activities with children an use my skills from placement last year and improve them.

Katie, BA (Hons) Early Years and Childhood Studies

Students on the BSc (Hons) Education Psychology complete Work Integrated Learning during their first, second and third year of study. 

The WIL period occurs from January to May, for a minimum of five days.

We are not currently recruiting new partner organisations for this unit but would welcome any interest registered.

Students studying BSc (Hons) Nutritional Science and BSc (Hons) Sports and Exercise Nutrition courses complete Work Integrated Learning in the second year of their undergraduate course from January – April, 1 day a week for 10 weeks, with a 3 week break over the Easter holidays.

Typical placement providers can include Sports Clubs, community centres, charities, food production, quality  etc. Students are able to get involved with the day to-day operations or work on specific projects, previous examples of WIL within this subject area include a focus on:

• nutrition for wellbeing
• performance masterclasses
• designing nutritional awareness campaigns or resources
• working in food technology, preparation and analysis
• hydration in sport
• designing healthy meal plans for people on a budget
• conducting research into the links between nutrition and performance

Students studying BA (Hons) Integrated Health and Social Care complete their Work Integrated Learning placement in their second year of study from January – April, 1 day a week for 10 weeks, with a 3 week break over the Easter holidays.

Previous placement providers have included homeless charities, community centres, residential care settings, care providers etc. Students are able to get involved with the day to-day operations or work on specific projects. Previous examples of WIL within this subject area include a focus on working within community organisations supporting people with a range of health and social care needs, for example: 

• homelessness
• learning difficulties 
• education 
• people with mental health needs

Students on our BSc (Hons) Psychology, BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology and BSc (Hons) Psychology with Counselling and Psychotherapy complete optional Work Integrated Learning placements in the first and third year of their undergraduate courses.

First year students have to apply to take part in a WIL experience and final year students can undertake a placement through an optional unit.

Psychology is varied and students are able to complete their WIL experience in a variety of settings, in the past this has included working within educational pastoral teams, community centres and HR services. Students are able to get involved with the day-to-day activity or work on a specific project which must be set prior to the placement, previous examples of WIL within this subject area include a focus on: 

• creating marketing or awareness campaigns
• conducting service user feedback work
• completing any data analysis or reporting
• fundraising activity
• designing wellbeing programmes for service users or staff members
• developing research to support new activities
• reviewing staff wellbeing services and employee engagement

Postgraduate students taking the Professional Practice Values - Clinical Skills unit on the MSc Psychology course complete their Work Integrated Learning placement from May – June and complete 40 hours within an organisation, which is typically 1 day a week for 5 weeks.

Previous examples of WIL within this subject area focus on:

• developing health wellbeing activities
• conducting research, evaluation or scoping linked to their programme of study
• developing workshops on health-related topics
• taking part in befriending roles
• counselling roles
• shadowing professionals in a number of capacities

For this Professional Practice Values unit, students will need a named supervisor with experience in the field the student is allocated to (although day-to-day supervision is not necessary).

Postgraduate students from the MSc Health Psychology course undertake their Work Integrated Learning placement from June to July, typically completing 2 days a week to complete 70 hours in total.

Our postgraduate students on this course require the opportunity to develop their skills within the following areas:

• health promotion (e.g. physical activity promotion in clinical services)
• illness management (e.g. shadowing clinical consultations)
• health service improvement (e.g. conducting audit and evaluation within health-related services)

For this Health Psychology unit, students will need a named supervisor in the organisation to liaise with on a day-to-day basis, such as a Psychologist, Health Promotion Manager, or Project Lead.

Manchester Met’s university-based induction programme ensures that students are prepared for both placement and assessment.

The programme helps to increase awareness of the sort of skills and abilities that employers are increasingly looking for in their employees, including communication, professionalism and teamwork.

Placement organisations are encouraged to work with students to outline the structure and objectives for the placement and in some cases will be asked to provide a job description or project plan prior to the experience taking place.

This will lay the foundations for the students’ reflections on achievements and skills development required for the assessment.

We provide pre-programme briefings via online and face to face networking meetings to prepare practice organisations to support our WIL students.

Our placement learning includes our faculty-wide policies and procedures, such as Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, safeguarding, occupational health screening and a complaints procedure.

In terms of the commitment required from a partner agency, we would ask that you offer an initial induction meeting with the student(s), which would likely include:

• an overview of the organisation
• a tour (if on-site)
• key contacts
• relevant policies
• expectations and details of the project or activity they will be supporting
• their role and the logistics of the placement

We would ask placement partners to assign students to a supervisor for the duration of their placement. This may be the same person for all students or differ depending on the project.

Placement partners would also be expected to offer regular opportunities for review meetings with the students to discuss their progress. And provide feedback. The regularity of these would vary depending on the unit but would likely be one further meeting during the placement and one at the end of the placement.

For some units, we also ask for a project proposal prior to the start of the placements, which may be used to help us identify suitable students to match with you. We will also ask you to complete an evaluation on the placement experience.

For some of the Units we deliver, we welcome both on-site and hybrid/remote placement opportunities from our partner organisations.

The commitment involved would differ slightly for both formats, as well as the level of support required depending on the individual unit.

We ask that, during the hybrid/remote WBL, partners have an initial two hour meeting with students then a one-two hour catch up (time dependent on the activity planned by you on that day).

These meetings should be held weekly/bi-weekly so you can discuss progress and direct the students.

You may also wish the students to join meetings, workshops, and seminars within your organisation on the allocated day.

The students will have the support of an assigned tutor who will meet with them regularly, and our WBL team is here to support you.